Feeding device.



L'. H. THULLEN.

I FIVEDING DEVICE. APPLICATION min MAY 20. |915.

1,221,391. Patented Api. 3, 1917.

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Toallwhmnstmayconc'em: Be it known that I, Louis H. THULLEN, a citizenof the United States, and a resident of- Brooklyn, county of Kings,State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inFeeding Devices, lof which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in feeding devices and is moreparticularly adapted to be used in connection with coal cutters,although it is adapted 'to other uses. One object of this invention isto provide an im roved sim le and efiicient arrange ment y which t efeed of the cutter or other work device is retarded or varied inaccordance with the vein of coal being cut or in accordance withincreases in load thereon or the resistance offered thereto. Anotherobject is to provide an larrangement whereby when the resistance offeredbecomes too great, the feed will be reversed until the resistanceoffered becomes such that forward feed may again properly take place.Furtherobjects, features and advantages will more clearly appear fromthe detailed description given below taken in con'- nection with theaccompanying drawing which forms a part ofthespecification. In

the drawing Flgure 1 illustrates diagramf matically an arrangementembodying the invention in one form, as applied to a coal cutter. Figs.2 and 3 are similar views showing modifications.

Referring to Fig. 1, the character 1 represents a coal cutter intendedto be fed forward into the coal beds for the purpose 'of cutting thecoal out. Any suita le cutting device may be emplo ed. The one shown isprovided with cutting teeth or knives 2. For operating the cutter, anelectric motor is provided at 3, supplied with current from the mains 4.A screw 5 feeds the cutter and'v tooperate the screw 5, the followingmechanism isv shown. y An electric motor 6 operates a shaft7, to whichis attached a bevel gear 8 meshingy with 'the planetary gears 9 on thestud shaft 10, the .shaft 10 being carried by a forked frame 11 securedto the armature of another electric motor 12, whereby rotation of themotor 12 pro- Speoition of Letten Patent.

Appunti med :ny 20,1915. senin xo. :ana

` gears 9,

' arrangement shown.

' increase of current taken is such as to Patented Apr. 3, 1917.

ently of the planetary movement of the although in mesh therewith.Opposlte the gear 8 and secured to the screw shaft 5 is a bevel gear 13meshing with the planetary gears 9. The field coils`14 of the motor 12and the field coils 15 of the motor 6 are arranged in series withthemotor 3, so that any variation of current taken by the motor 3 is feltin these field coils. The motor 6 is provided with the field coils 16,

the coils 15 being wound to oppose the field set up by the coils 16. v

Assuming that all theif'gears of the differential gearing 8, 9, 13 areof the same pitch diameter, itwill be seen that if the motors 6 and l2are running at the same speed and in the same direction, thedifferential and all the gears thereof will turn ask a complete unitabout the axis of the shafts 5 and 7 and so turn the screw shaft 5 andfeed the cutter ata definite speed, the shaft 5 rotating at the samespeed as the shaft 7 and motors 6 and 12l in the Any other intermediatemechanism may be employed for transmitting the feeding motion from thedifferential to the cutter 1. Should a heavy load fall upon the cutter,making it desirable to feed it more slowly, the nincrease in currentItaken by the motor 3, vdue to the increased resistance offered thecutter, will cause the field strength of motor 12to be increased, thefield coils 14 of motor 12 being in series with the motor 3. Thisincrease of field strength of motor 12 causes it to decrease Aits speed.e same increase in current acting inthe coils 15 of motor 6 cuts downthe field strength of the motor, since coils 15 are lwound to o pose themain field coils 16 of the motor, thereby causing the motor to increaseits speed.` This differential action causes the gear 13 to be driven atless speed, and the feed of the cutter to be retarded, and ifthe speedof the motor 6 be twice that of the motor 12 (assuming the gears 8, 9and 13 to be all of the same size) the ear'l3 will remain stationary andthere w1ll be no vfeed of the cutter 1 or other work device. If the re-'sistance offered the work device be so eat as to necessitate Hareversal of the f the make the speed of the motor 6 more than twicethatV of motor 12, causing the gear 13 to rotate in the oppositedirection and reverse the feed of the work device. So it is obvious thatas the load on motor 3 increases, the rotation of feed screw 5 willbecome slower and slower until a point is reached 'when it will cease torotate, and if this point should be exceeded the screw will start torotate the other way. Thus by su1tably proportioning the windings in thevarious motors the feed may becaused to be entirely automatic, andshould a cutter bind sufficiently to endanger 'the motor 3, the feedmechanism will automatically reverse and so relieve the strain on thecutter.

It will be seen that the arrangement illustrated embodies a differentialgearing 8, 9, 13, one part of said gearing 13 operating the feedingmeans, a motor 12 for driving another part of said gearing and a motor 6for independently driving another part of the gearing and connectionswhereby the field of one motor is strengthened and the field of theother weakened responsive to increases in load upon, or resistanceoffered, the motor operating the work device, so that the differentialaction of the motors 6 and 12 acts to retard the feeding means andautomatically reverse the feed when the resistance reaches apredetermined value. The motor 3 is ,preferably of the constant speedtype, although any other form of motor or operating device may be usedas occasion may re- Iquire.

The arrangement shown in Fig. 2 is the same as that shown in Fig. 1,except that the motor 6 is omitted and the shaft 7 is driven atsubstantially constant speed bv the motor 3 by means of the gears 17,18, 19, 20, shafting 21 and gears 22 and 23. The shafting 2l is madeextensible by a pin and slot connection 24, so that as the cutter 1 withthe motor 3 is fed forward, the mechanical driving connection betweenthe shaft 7 and motor 3 will still be maintained. Any other suitablemethod of obtaining this result may be utilized. With the arrangementshown in Fig. 2, the differential action is caused wholly by thevariations in speed of the machine12. When its speed is half that of theshaft 7,

the feeding ceases, and when the speed of the,

motor 6 is less than half that of the shaft 7, the feeding is reversed.

In Fig. 3 the arrangement is the same as that in Fig. 1, except that themotor 12 is omitted and the frame 11 carrying the planetary gears 9 isdriven from the motor 3 by gears 25, 26, 27, 28, extensible shafting29,'

and gears 30 and 31. In this arrangement differential action isy causedby the variations in speed of the machine 6, although it will beapparent that if -the motor 3 be one which decreases in speed as theload increases, this will vary the speed of the forked frame 11 andplanetary gears 9 and so increase the differential action.

Many changes and modifications in the apparatus used to secure the abovepurposes Having described my invention, what Iv claim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent is:

1. rl`he combination of a motor, a device driven by the motor with aload of varying Value, means for feeding the device to its work,differential gearing, one part of said gearing operating the feedingmeans, a. second motor for driving another part of said gearing, a thirdmotor for driving a third part of said gearing, and connections Wherebythe field of the second motor is strengthened and the field of the thirdmotor is weakened responsive to increases in load on the first motor toretard the feeding means.

2. The combination of a motor, a device driven by the motor with a loadof varying value, means for feeding the device to its work, differentialgearing, one part of said gearing operating the feeding means, a motorfor driving another part of said gearing, means for independentlydriving another part of said gearing and connections Whereby the fieldof the second motor is varied responsive to the variations in load onthe first motor whereby upon an increase of load on the first motor thefeeding means is retarded.

3. The combination of a motor, a device driven by the motor with a loadof varying value, means for feeding the device to itsworlr,diff'ere11tial gearing, one part of said gearing operating thefeeding means, a motor for driving another part of said gearing, meansfor independently driving another part of said gearing and connectionswhereby the field ofthe second motor is strengthened responsive to anincrease in load on the first motor to decrease the speed of the secondmotor, whereby upon an increase of load. on the first motor the feedingmeans is re-,

work, differential gearing, one part of said gearing operating thefeeding means, a motor for driving another part of said gearing, meansfor independently driving another part of said gearing and connectionswhereby the field of the second motor is weakened responsive to anincrease in load on the first motor to increase the speed of the secondmotor, whereby upon an increase of load on the first motor the feedingmeans is retarded.

5. The combination of a work device, means for feeding the said device,differential gearing, one part of said gearing operating the feedingmeans, a motor for driving another part of said gearing, means forindependently driving another part of said gearing and connectionswhereby the field of the motor -is varied in accordance with theresistance offered saidwork device,

whereby upon an increase in resistance means for feeding the workoffered the work device is retarded. y

6. The combination of a work device means for feeding said work deviceand means for drivi retarding the fee ing of said work device uponincrease in resistance offered said work device, s aid last-mentionedmeans embracing apparatus which causes the feeding of sa1d Work deviceto be automatically reversed when the said resistance reaches apredetermined value.

7. The com ination of a 4work device, device, two driving means for saidfeeding means, the differential action of which acts to drive thefeeding means at varying speed, and means controlled by the resistanceto said work devicefor automatically varying the speed of one of saiddriving means to vary the speed of the feeding means. l

the feeding thereof 8. The combination of a work device,

means for feeding the work device, two rotary devices for operating saidfeeding means, the differential action ofwh-ich acts aus to vary thespeed of the feedin means, one of said devices comprising an e ectricmotor and means controlled by the resistance to said work device forautomatically varying the speed of said motor to vary the speed of thefeeding means.

9. The combination 'of a work device, means for feeding the work device,two driving means for said feeding means, the differential action ofwhich acts to drive the feeding means at varying speed and meansautomatically varying the speed of one of the driving means to retardthe speed of the feeding means and reverse the feed upon the resistanceoffered the work device reaching a predetermined value.

10. The combination ofv a means for feeding the work device, two drivingmeans for said feeding means, the differential action of which acts todrive the feeding means at varying speed, a motor for operating the Workdevice and means automatically varying'the speed of one of said drivingmeans to retard the feed of the work device responsive to increases inloaden said motor. x Y

11. The combination of a work device, means for feeding the work device,two

Work device,

driving means for operating said feedingy the feeding means and4 vice,an. electric motor planetary gears driving said bevel vice,'a motor for'operating' the same differential means for feeding .the coal 'cutterdevice including means automatically retarding upon increases, in theresistance offered thereto and causing the feeding of the cutter deviceto be reversed when said resistance reaches a predeterminedvalue.

13. The combination of a coal cutter deoperating the same, cutterdevice, two

means for feeding the feeding means havdriving means for said ing adifferential action acting to vary the speed of the feeding means, oneof said driving means comprising an electric motor and meansautomatically varying the field strength of said last-mentioned motor toretard the feed` of the cutter device and reverse the feed thereof uponthe resistance offered the cutter device reaching a predetermined value.

14. The combination of a work device, a shaft carrying 't bevel gear andco erating means adapted to feed said work evice, a motor operating thework device while it is being fed, planetary gears driving said bevelgear, another gear coperating with said planet-ary gears in the drivingof bevel gear, driving means for said planetary gears and saidlast-mentioned gear respectively, one of said driving means comprisingan electric motor and connections whereby the speed of said lastmentioned motor is varied automatically upon increases in the resistanceoffered the work device.

15. The combination of a Work device, means for feeding the work device,two electric motors for driving the feeding means and having adifferential action to vary the speed of the feeding means andconnections whereby the field of one drivingmotor is strengthened andthe field of the other driving motor the feeding of the cutter ldevice'roc is weakened to vary to variations in the resistance offered the workdevice.

16. The combination of a coal cutter de vice, a shaft carrying a bevelgear and cooperating means adapted to feed said device,

ar, ananetary other gear coperatingwith said p electric gears in thedriving of bevel gear,

motors for driving said planetary gears and said last-mentioned gearrespectivel and connections whereby the speed of said motors is variedautomatically upon increases in the resistance offered the work device.

17. The combination of a Work device, means for feeding the work devicetoward and from its work, two driving means for said feeding meanshaving a differential action to affect the feeding of theY Work deviceand means whereby said differential action is affected by the resistanceoffered the work device.

18. The combination of a work device, means for feedingl the workdevice, two driving means for operating said' feeding means, thedifferential action of which acts to vary the speed of the feedingmeans, one of said driving means comprising an electric motor', anelectric motor for operating the work device and means whereby the fieldof said first-mentioned motor is varied to vary its speed and the speedof the feeding means responsive to variations in current taken by themotor operating the work device.

19. The combination of a'work device, means for feeding the work devicetoward and from its work, two driving means for said feeding meanshaving a differential action adapted to drive the feeding means ineither direction while themselves acting both in the same direction andmeans whereby said differential action is affected by the resistanceoffered the work device to retard and reverse the feeding of the workdevice in accordance with the resistance offered the work device.

20. The combination of a workdevice, means for feeding the work device,two electric motors for driving the feeding means and havin a dierentialaction adapted to drive the eeding means in either direction whilethemselves acting both in the same direction and means' whereby saiddifferential action is affected by the resistance offered the Workdevice, to retard and 'reverse the feeding of the ywork device inaccordance with the resistance offered the work device.

21. The combination of a work device, means for feedingrthe work device,two driving means for said feeding means, and means whereby the speed ofone driving means may be varied to retard the speed of the feeding meansand reverse the speed thereof, affected by the resistance offered theWork device.

22. The combination of a work device, means for feeding the work device,two motors operating said feeding means, and means whereby the speed ofone motor may be varied to retard the speed of the feeding means andreverse the speed thereof affected by the resistance offered the workdevice.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my' name to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LOUIS H. THULLEN.

Witnesses:

E. E. HAINES, G.' A. BERKHAN.

